Popular Mechanics: 1080p - HDTV's New Gold Standard

1080p displays are introducing a new level of detail to the world of HDTV. Is everything else obsolete?

Oct 1, 2009

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When did buying a TV set get so complicated? Understanding the difference between plasma, LCD and DLP technologies is tricky enough. Explaining the distinction between 1080i and 720p HDTV picture formats already leaves the average electronics salesperson mumbling. Now, along comes the new math: 1080p. In theory, 1080p offers the highest picture quality available today. A host of gorgeous 1080p sets are now hitting stores (at the upper end of the price scale, naturally). But, does that mean that anyone who wants to get the most out of HDTV programming needs a 1080p set? Not so fast.

WHAT IS 1080P?

In short, a 1080p picture is a video image with 1080 lines of resolution that is refreshed "progressively." Currently, high-definition television is broadcast using one of two standards: 1080i (interlaced) or 720p (progressive). Interlacing is an age-old technique for broadcasting television that dates to the early days of cathode ray tube TVs. In a CRT, the ray gun "paints" the odd lines of the television signal onto the screen, then, while the phosphors from the first pass are still glowing, it paints in the even lines. By repeating the process 30 times per second, the system fools the eye into blending the two half-frames, or "fields," into a complete picture. The point of this elaborate system was to maximize the use of available bandwidth by sending only a half a frame of the television image at a time.

Progressive-scan displays, such as most of today's "fixed-pixel" plasma, LCD flat-panel and projection displays, refresh their screens one line at a time from top to bottom. Since they are capable of filling the entire frame 60 times per second, they deliver picture information twice as quickly as interlaced sets. That means a 1080i signal is really 60 fields of 540 lines each per second (the equivalent of 30 frames of the full 1080 lines), whereas a 720p signal is 60 full frames of 720 lines per second.

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Both these signals yield extraordinarily good pictures on progressive-scan HDTVs with 720 lines of resolution. But 1080p sets go one step further: Many 1080p sets can take a 1080i signal and "de-interlace" it in order to display it progressively. So instead of displaying two sets of 540 lines at one-sixtieth of a second each, it paints all 1080 lines on the screen 60 times a second. That means it puts twice as much picture on the screen in the same amount of time.

CAN YOU SEE THE DIFFERENCE?

That's the key question. "If you have 20/20 vision, you would need to be closer than 2-1/2 times the screen's picture height to appreciate the quality of 1080p," says Richard Doherty, co-founder and research director of The Envisioneering Group, a technology assessment and research firm. "Otherwise, you might as well be watching 720p."

Such is the law of diminishing returns with high-definition television screens. They are roughly analogous to the charge-coupled device (CCD) sensors in digital cameras. An increase in camera resolution from 2 to 3 megapixels, for instance, makes a huge difference in the quality of the resulting picture. An increase from 4 to 5 megapixels, however, is less noticeable. But does that mean high-megapixel cameras (and, by extension, super-high-resolution TV sets) are irrelevant? Not at all. With cameras as with TVs, resolution becomes important as the size of the picture gets larger and as the viewer gets closer. Will you notice 1080p resolution on a 27-in. set? Probably not. On a 65-in. set, however, it might make a heck of a difference.

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WHAT ABOUT PROGRAMMING?

A 1080p set can't live up to its true potential without 1080p content to display. At the moment, however, there isn't a single channel broadcasting in 1080p on cable, satellite or over the air.

In truth, 1080p broadcasts may not come for some time, mostly because of bandwidth constraints and the significant investments that already have been made by the entertainment industry, broadcasters and consumers in 1080i and 720p. Movies in 1080p will arrive sooner. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January, several manufacturers were showing off hi-def disc players that should hit the market later this year. Unfortunately, the announcements raised more questions than they answered. The industry is in the midst of a format war between the backers of a technology called Blu-ray (led by Sony) and those who support HD DVD (led by Toshiba). Both formats claim to support 1080p, but only a few of the first machines will be able to display that resolution. Likewise, not every disc will be recorded at 1080p.

But hi-def isn't just for TV and movies. Video games are playing in HD, too. Sony has announced that its upcoming PlayStation 3 will support 1080p games on Blu-ray discs. If the system is launched at the $500 price that has been rumored, then it may well hold the dual distinction of being the most expensive game system as well as the cheapest 1080p source on the market.

TO BUY OR NOT TO BUY?

Is the extra resolution worth the price premium of a 1080p set? That depends a lot on what you want from your TV. If you insist on neighborhood bragging rights in the resolution department, then you may want to buy a 1080p model to "futureproof" your purchase. But if you choose to make the 1080p splurge, you should do it knowing that it might be a couple of years before widespread 1080p content becomes available. And, even then, the 1080p advantage will be pretty subtle on anything less than the largest screens. On the other hand, if you are interested in making the jump to high definition today--and enjoying the HD content that is already available--then most current 720p and 1080i sets will deliver stunning results right now.

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The Class of 1080p

Prices are still sky-high, but these super-high-resolution machines are leading the way into the future of HDTV.

Cutting-edge technologies aren't always introduced at the top of the market. Akai's new series of 1080p HDTVs uses three LEDs instead of the lamp and color wheel found on most Digital Light Processing (DLP) sets. One advantage the LED system offers is that it eliminates the so-called rainbow effect that some people experience when watching DLP sets. Additionally, LED light sources should last more than three times longer than conventional lamps.

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HP is generally known more as a printer manufacturer than as a maker of TVs, but the company's inkjet experience has helped launch its DLP televisions into the world of 1080p. By using a technique known as "", HP coaxes a 1080 picture out of a lower-resolution DLP chip. That means you can get a positively enormous projection TV for under five grand. Plus, the HP MD6580 gets points for smart design: All of the input jacks are accessible through a panel in the front of the set.

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Because of the complex physics involved in the structure of plasma cells, it is both difficult and expensive to produce these screens at 1080p resolution, which explains the $10,000 price tag of Pioneer's 50-in. set. If you have the money to spend, the PRO-FHD1 is a good choice. It can natively display 1080p content, and can up-convert 720p, 1080i and DVD images to 1080p as well. This minimizes the interlacing motion artifacts of 1080i.

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Westinghouse produces displays that are priced for the discount aisle, but packed with all the technology found in far pricier sets. Although the LVM-42w2 lacks an internal tuner (which is unnecessary if you get your television from cable or satellite), it has a 1000:1 contrast ratio and a 176-degree viewing angle both vertical and horizontal, which means everybody in the room gets a good view--even if they're on the ceiling.

Sony's SXRD (Silicon X-tal Reflective Display) is considered one of the finest projection technologies in the hi-def world, with an extremely fast 5-millisecond response time as well as an outstanding 5000:1 contrast ratio. SXRD chips fit 2 million pixels on a silicon and liquid-crystal sandwich measuring only 0.61 in. diagonally. But this chip has no problem filling this TV's 50-in. screen with rich color and deep blacks.

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Is 'Wobulation' True 1080p?

There is a surprising amount of controversy in the world of hi-def, and a technology with a name like "wobulation" is sure to arch some eyebrows. Developed by HP, it uses a process similar to interlacing to double the pixels produced by a Digital Light Processing chip. DLP sets create their pixels by reflecting light off a chip covered with tiny, movable mirrors. Wobulated sets bounce the light from that chip off an optical actuator that shifts consecutive images by one-half pixel. Half of the total pixel count is projected in the first image, and a second image fills in the rest one one-hundred-twentieth of a second later. The result onscreen is two overlapping images that effectively double the projectable resolution of a 1-million-pixel chip to 2 million--and smooth out the "screen door effect" common to many rear-projection sets. Some HD enthusiasts argue that the result can't hold up to that of the more expensive 2-megapixel chips, but defenders say the only difference you'll see is in the price.

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